Former CEL Chair, Nick Robinson, named University Professor at Pace

Fri, 17 Apr 2009

It was announced yesterday that Nicholas A. Robinson, an internationally-recognized architect of international environmental law and an innovator in training thousands of environmental lawyers around the world, has been appointed University Professor at Pace University - the first university-wide professor in the history of Pace.

Photo: Nick Robinson

"Pace is known for professionals who apply environmental knowledge in fields from philosophy and science to law, policy and business", the Provost of Pace University said in his announcement: "Our first University Professorship underscores our conviction that environmental thinking is essential for leaders in all disciplines of study and enterprise."

Nick Robinson is one of the world's leading figures in environmental law because he has built both the law and the supply of lawyers. At the time when he was a law student, environmental law did not exist.

Founder of Pace Law School in 1987 and of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law in 2003, Nick served for two terms as Chair of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law (CEL), from 1996 to 2004.

He will give the first talk in his new role on Earth Day, 22 April. The topics will include the global crisis in biodiversity loss, as well as the effects of climate change on coastlines and tidal levels.

Responding to his appointment, he said "... As our society retools our energy regimes and restructures our coastlines to adapt to sea levels much higher than we have today, it will rethink how environmental law functions. As University Professor, my research and lecturing will focus, with some urgency, on the changes that climate change requires of us all."